The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner comprising a floor nozzle and a handle sector attached tiltable to the floor nozzle.
A typical structure of conventional vacuum cleaners of the above type is shown in FIG. 15. The structure is described in the following. As illustrated in FIG. 15, a floor nozzle 1 houses an agitator 2, and a handle sector 3 is tiltably attached to the floor nozzle 1. The handle sector 3 contains a fan motor (not shown) for sucking dust stirred by floor nozzle 1 into a dust bag (not shown), and a motor shaft of the fan motor is coupled to the agitator 2 for rotating the agitator 2. A pedal 5 is provided at a lower rear section of floor nozzle 1 for unlocking the tilting status of the handle sector 3 with respect to the floor nozzle 1. A switch 6 is provided at an upper rear section of floor nozzle 1 for starting/halting the rotating of the agitator 2. The switch 6 may be either a foot operating type or hand operating type.
A hand operating type switch 6 may have a lower cost, but commonly requires a operator to effect the unpleasant action of bending his her/back so that his/her finger can reach the switch 6 disposed at the top part of floor nozzle 1 for the switching operation. A foot operating type switch 6 may be more operator-friendly in that it does not require the bending action, but it requires complex parts and structure, therefore the manufacturing cost may be higher.
The switch 6 is a device that functions independently from the pedal 5 which is provided for unlocking the handle sector 3. Therefore, when starting to clean a carpet, an operator first has to press the pedal 5 of floor nozzle 1 down to unlock the handle sector 3, and then operate the switch 6 to start rotation of agitator 2. Namely, two actions, viz. pressing the pedal down and operating the switch, are required before starting a normal cleaning operation. Likewise, when changing from carpet cleaning to another kind of cleaning work which requires an attachment, rotation of the agitator 2 has to be halted from time to time. Thus, troublesome operational steps are required with conventional vacuum cleaners.
There may be operators who do not always turn off the rotation of agitator 2 when cleaning chores are finished, or when an attachment is being used. In the former case, when the power switch is turned on for the next cleaning operation, the agitator 2 abruptly starts rotating, and clothes or other items left near the agitator might be wound around the rotating agitator. Similarly, in the latter case, casual cloth fragments, etc., on the floor might be entangled in the agitator. During cleaning work, it is not easy for an operator to see whether agitator 2 is rotating or not, as the agitator 2 is disposed in a place which is concealed from the operator. While some cleaners have an indicator provided near the switch 6, such indication is by stamping, or the like, on the body and is not clear enough for a standing operator.